Hotel Art Objects - Not for Export, lol.

Yep, those are carved ivory tusks, not quite sure if it's elephant or not, but from what I recall..it was. While I do not condone the purchase or sale of ivory (poachers should all die, really), the intricacy of this piece of artwork was unbelievable. The painstaking hours it would've taken to compose such a masterful work goes beyond description.

And then there was all this Jade.... all of this artwork and dozens (or hundreds) more like it were scattered throughout the halls and rooms of the Jinma Palace Hotel. Some of these ornate sculptures have been carved out of enormous single pieces of jade, how crazy is that!? Not to mention, very very expensive. By comparison the prices in Canadian would be astronomical, but considering the yuan price-tags, they seem somewhat affordable.

The Crystal Entity

Couldn't even tell you what the name of this crazy sculpture is. Just out of the reach of Nanjing Road, this enormous park with walkways and a giant sculpture resembling the 'Crystal Entity' (any Star Trek fans in the house?). Anyhow, nifty...to say the least.

Dinner at last.. and some crazy jade sculpture.

Even the lobby of restaurants bore resemblance to small palaces themselves. Large jade sculptures graced the foyer, greeting us as we came entered.

Below, a busy street marks the spot just before our restaurant. Not sure how anyone finds their way around in this scenario, all the street corners are so busy and coated with cables and wires and signs, oh my...

Oh the Artwork, the Magnificent Artwork.

As mentioned, the sculptures, the paintings...nearly everything was so intricately detailed and priceless in it's construction that mere photos do not do the pieces justice. Here's some photos anyways (see below) :) and now it's off to the Gardens....